Retaliation
by SarahKathryn
Summary: what would happen if a bad guy had a sniper like the SRU? updated with two new chapters!
1. Chapter 1

title- no title yet- suggestions are welcome

summary- sometimes bad guys are smart, too.

by- sadiekate

A/N- i've actually had this part written long before there was a flashpoint section, just no time to type it up! and also, I've never been to Toronto, so forgive me, if I get something wrong about it. I also don't know a whole lot about explosives.

"C'mon, you really don't want to do this." Gregory Parker spoke into a megaphone.

"oh, yes, I do. You can't stop me." The voice taunted him. The voice belonged to Joe Patrick, who was currently sitting on enough explosives then Toronto ever needed to see. He was also the leader of a group of people who were anti government and liked to wreak havoc wherever they went. So far, they hadn't hit Toronto and Parker wanted to keep it that way. Unfortunely, Joe had other ideas.

"Well, you're right. If you wanted to blow the fuse right now, I couldn't stop you. But I'd really like you to reconsider. Think of all the innocent people who would die, Joe. Women, children, babies. You want to be labeled a baby killer? I don't think you do." Parker taunted him back, hoping to encourage him to come out so that the bomb teams could go in and defuse the bombs.

"They are not innocent! They must repent of their sins to be innocent!" Joe yelled back.

"Well, what have they done? Maybe I can fix it." Parker tried again.

"Sam has a shot." Wordy whispered to to Parker who shook his head.

"Tell him not to take it. I don't want to shoot this guy while he's sitting on enough C4 to take out half the damn city."

Wordy nodded and turned away to tell Sam.

Up on the roof of a building across the street, Sam Braddock lowered his rifle. "Guy is gonna kill us all, you'd think I could stop it." he muttered.

"By killing him?" Jules Callaghan squinted at him in the bright sun. "And if he has his finger on the button that blows everything up, then when you shoot him, we'll all die anyway."

Sam squinted back at her. "Good point," he grumbled.

"Jeez, it's hot today." Jules commented.

"Yup." Sam was already back looking through the scope of his rifle to see if he could get another perfect shot.

"You have people on the roof." Joe came back at Parker.

"Now, why do you say that?" Parker asked. "Is there a reason why it couldn't just be a couple of people on their lunchbreak, watching the commotion?"

"Office workers don't go to lunch with rifles." Joe responded.

"Parker looked up at the building across the street from him. So did Wordy.

"Now how does he see them? I barely can." Wordy said. "Is there someone else in the house with him with binoculars?" They knew Joe didn't have any because they had their own binoculars on him.

"Nope. We did the infared thing. Only one body in the house, his."

Joe spoke again. "My people see your people." he said in a sing song voice.

"Sam, Jules, get down now!" Parker shouted into his radio. He didn't know what was going to happen but they didn't need to be in the line of fire unnecessarily.

Too late shots rang out.

"Bang bang, they're gone." Joe said, in the same sing song voice. "They didn't repent, they're sinners destined for hell."

"Sam, Jules, can you hear me?" Parker shouted into his radio. "You guys okay?"

Wordy began to run toward the building with several officers following.

"Sam, Jules, please come in." Parker tried again. Then he turned to Joe. "If my people are hurt, I'm not going to be able to help you. This is your final chance."

Just then a voice crackled over the radio. "Officer down, officer down! I repeat, officer down! Immediate medical attention needed!"

now, that's a good cliffhanger. who was shot? i can't decide, help me decide! i'm leaning toward one character but i'm not sure yet. Most of this is written in my head, it's a matter of getting in on paper, and then in the computer. sorry so short. i seriously thought it was longer! but somehow notebook pages are not the same as typed, sorry! please review!!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

disclaimer- i own nothing. altho if they release the show on dvd, i'd really like a copy :)

a/n- it's been written for a week or more now but there are seven people in my house and one computer, and so not enough time to type!! but here it is finally! thanks for those reviews, hope you enjoy this chapter,too.

Parker watched, helplessly, as the paramedics rushed up the seven flights of stairs. He sat on the curb, just watching, unable to do anything else for his team. Ever since Sam's panicked voice had come through the radio, Parker had been sitting and watching. Wordy and Ed had gone upstairs while Parker had stayed in hopes of talking sense into Joe Patrick. It hadn't been successful in the least and Parker was too emotionly involved in the case now, so he had handed it over to another officer to try to control the situation. He had too much at stake now, with his own team being shot at, to consider trying to resolve it himself. He looked up to see what was going on as he heard footsteps. It was Ed and Wordy, looking grimmer then they'd ever looked before and he had seen them pretty grim before.

They sat down, one on either side of him and didn't speak for a few minutes. Finally Parker broke the silence. "How bad?" he asked, fearing the answer.

"They've both been hit. Word is there were two snipers on the other roof." Ed answered.

"Sam got it in the upper leg, it's bad, but he's conscious and doing all right." Wordy put in.

"And Jules?" Parker almost hated to ask, not sure if he wanted to know the answer, but knowing he'd have to.

Ed sighed. "She got the worst of it, Sarge."

"How bad?"

"When we got up there, Sam was trying to stop the bleeding. If he hadn't been there, she'd been gone for sure." Wordy said.

"How bad?" Parker demanded.

Ed sighed again, there was no more beating around the bush. "Jules got two hits, one hit in her left shoulder, a through and through, hurts like hell but it'll be fine."

Wordy jumped in, to help Ed out. "But it's the other that's the problem. She got it in the chest."

"But she was wearing a vest, wasn't she? Her vest should've stopped it." Parker was confused. Jules always wore her vest, they all did, for this reason.

"Should've. And it did slow it some, she's still breathing." Ed told him. "But it's bad, Sarge, real bad."

Parker buried his face in his hands, then looked up as two gurneys rattled by the men. He took a deep breath and stood up. "Let me see them." he called to the nearest paramedic.

"Just for a minute," he said, "We've gotta get them to the hospital."

He stepped up to Sam first, who opened his eyes. "I'm sorry, boss."

"Hey, hey, not your fault." Parker chided him.

"It should've been me, not her." Sam said, shaking his head.

"No more blaming yourself. Jules wouldn't want you to, got that? We all take the same risks, she knows that and so do you."

"Yes, sir." Sam shut his eyes again, so Parker stepped over to the other gurney.

Jules lay still, blood covering the front of her shirt and down her arms. Her vest had been cut away and replaced with bandages. She looked so still and pale, it frightened Parker, which took a lot, not much did that anymore. He swallowed, this was not the Jules Callaghan he knew, the one who was never still and pale like this.

A paramedic broke into his reverie. "Sir, you'll need to hurry. We need to get her to the hospital."

"Yeah, I know." He reached out and took Jules' hand in his own. He squeezed it, she was a lot like the daughter he'd never had. "Hang in there, Jules, hang in there. Don't make me call your father." He could hear her laughing at that. "All right, take her." He stepped back to join Wordy and Ed. "Hey, what hospital?" he called out, just before the ambulance doors shut.

"St. Michael Lutheran." was called out and then the doors slammed shut and sped away, joining the other ambulance containing Sam.

The remaining members of the team stood together, in the bright hot sunshine, just staring after the ambulances. Finally, Wordy spoke. "Let's go."

Slowly, the guys walked down the street, away from the scene, away from Joe Patrick who had managed to wreak havoc after all even if not on the scale he had in mind, and headed to one of their SUVs to go to the hospital to sit vigil beside their fallen. Many other cops would join them in the waiting room, because when one falls, or in this case two, it is felt throughout the whole police force.

The waiting room was full of cops, most of whom knew Sam or Jules. Some did not, they were just there for support.

The members of the SRU sat together by the door so they'd be the first to hear any news, good or bad.

"Does Sam have any family we should contact?" Spike asked.

"He's got parents." Lou volunteered.

Inwardly, Parker winced. The last time he had dealt with Sam's father had not been pleasant. "We'll call when we need to." he finally said. "We're not going to worry them over nothing. Sam is fine, he can decide whether or not to call them.

"What about Jules?" Spike asked. "She's got family, doesn't she?"

"Yup." Lou answered. "Father and four brothers. She was telling me about her nieces and nephews once."

"Guys, we'll call whoever we need to, when we need to. She's gonna be fine." Parker was firm.

"She's from somewhere in Alberta. Medicine Hat, I think." Wordy said. "A bit far to do any good."

The others nodded, silent. There was nothing left to do except sit and wait.

a/n- the info about sam and jules came from ctv's flashpoint website. i really did look up medicine hat, it doesn't seem to be in the middle of no where like i thought, altho parts of it is. it is, if anyone wants to know, about 1 day and 8 hours from toronto. hope you enjoy this chapter and please review! sarah


	3. Chapter 3

It was a long night for the members of the SRU. They waited, huddled together, in the corner nearest the door all night long. It was nearly dawn before anyone came through the swinging doors.

The doctor was young and female, seemimgly very sure of herself and not at all intimidated by a roomful of cops. "My name is Polly Connor. You are the family of Samuel Braddock and Julianna Callaghan?"

"Well, not exactly but close enough. I'm their boss." Parker stood up. "Are they okay?"

"Well, has left surgery and can be visited during the hours of 8 AM and 8 PM. Currently he is in recovery but will be moved to a private room before visiting hours resume at which time he can have vistors."

A sigh of relief was heard throughout the room. Parker actually smiled. "That's great news, really great news."

"But what about Jules?" Ed asked.

didn't answer the question. Instead she avoided it. " will be in room 2321. That's on the second floor, to the left of the main lobby elevator." She was stalling for time, she knew it and they knew it.

"Ma'am, that is great news and we certainly will be visiting him but we'd like to know about our other friend,too." Ed told her firmly.

looked up and looked him straight in the eyes. " had only a through and through to the upper leg. While dangerous and potentially life threatening, he was never in any real danger because he got medical attention right away. Miss Callaghan, on the other hand, received much more severe injuries. The one to her left shoulder was a through and through and will heal nicely in a short time. However, the second wound was the most serious. Her vest failed to protect her properly and she received a blow to the lower left chest, narrowly missing the liver." She stopped to take a deep breath. "Miss Callaghan is still in surgery and will continue to be for several hours yet."

"Should we call her family?" Lou asked, the first to get over the shock.

"I believe she will pull through. But it wouldn't hurt to call them either."

Parker nodded. "Thank you, Dr. Connor, thank you very much." He turned to Lou. "Go ahead and call her brother Gordon. That's who she said to call in an emergency."

"Will do, Sarge." Lou scurried off to wake up Gordon Callaghan with the news.

"Wordy, Ed, call your wives. They're probably worried you haven't called them in a few hours." Parker told them. "Spike, why don't you get coffee for everyone? My treat, in the light of good news"

The men glanced at him and then at each other. It was rather obvious Parker was getting rid of them all. But they all went to do as he said because, after all, he was their boss and they were too drained by the past twelve hours to do anything else.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Sarge?" Lou came back into the waiting room. "Gordon Callaghan wants to talk to you." Parker looked up from studying his shoes to be given a small black cell phone.

"You got good long distance on this thing?" Parker asked.

Lou shrugged. "Doesn't matter, department pays the bill."

"Oh." Parker took the offered phone. "This is Sergeant Gregory Parker."

"This is Gordon Callaghan." a loud voice annouced on the other end, "I was speaking to one of your constables a moment ago but I wanted your take on the situation. Is Julianna okay? Should I drive down there?"

"Jules is in surgery. Yes, it is serious but that is all I know."

"No, Sergeant Parker. What I want to know is how the hell you let this happen!"

Parker had no answer to that but he tried anyway. "Well, Mr. Callaghan, you see, Jules and her partner were up on the roof, trying to get a shot in case we couldn't talk down the subject."

Gordon cut him off, "I thought Julianna had a fairly safe job. It is her job to shoot, not be shot at!"

"Yes, , that's true. But sometimes we can't control the situation."

"So what? I'm suppose to tell my seventy four year old father who has a bad heart, that you couldn't control the situation?!"

"Well, , that's up to you." Parker was answered by a loud click, as Gordon Callaghan hung up. "Nice guy, isn't he? he remarked, giving the phone back to Lou.

"Well, you did give him bad news." Lou answered.

"And he kept calling Jules by her full name. Sure she loves that." Parker mused.

"Is she dating anyone?" Lou asked, "We should call if she is.

"Not that I know of. But she doesn't tell the team everything, you know.

Lou nodded and took a seat. The SRU had not left the waiting room and wouldn't until they had some news which they didn't have to wait much longer for as the same doctor as before came through the swinging doors.

She looked grave as she spoke. "Well, Sergeant Parker, I have good news and good news."

sorry for yet another cliffhanger- the fourth chapter is written, just not typed. hope you like it! sarah


	4. Chapter 4

"Good news and bad news?" Ed repeated. _It doesn't sound good_ was what he was thinking.

"Give it to us." Parker demanded.

" looked at him and nodded. "The good news is that Miss Callaghan is out of surgery."

An uneasy relief went through the room. Yes, that was good news but if there was also bad news maybe it wasn't such good news.

"The bad news?" Wordy asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously.

"The bad news is that she has lost a good deal of blood and her left lung was punctured by the bullet."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that she is in serious condition. We stopped the bleeding and gave her two blood transfusions. Also, we inflated the lung and patched it and it should be good as new but the next twenty four hours will be critical."

"Will she be all right?" Lou asked.

"I think so, yes. Miss Callaghan is quite a fighter. Many people with similar injuries never make it out of surgery. But, like I said, the next twenty four hours will be crucial."

"Thank you, Dr. Connor." Parker said. "We'll be waiting for updates."

"Oh, and one more thing." Dr. Connor turned back from the swinging doors. "Two actually. One, has been asking for you, and Miss Callaghan will be moved to the ICU shortly and you'll be able to visit her one at a time, for about five minutes at a time."

"Thank you, . We'll do that." The relief was written across Parker's tired face, and repeated on every face around the room. The worst was over.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Sam Braddock was awake, wide awake, and lying in a stark white hospital room, with nothing and no one to keep him company. At least for the moment anyway, he had been begging every nurse that came in to check on him to please contact Sergeant Parker, or any member of his team, that he wanted to see them, to find out what had happened, why and how Jules was.

The last thing he remember clearly was her pale shocked face as Jules had realized all that blood was her own.....

_"Jules, are you okay?" Sam had shouted after the shots had rang out. He knew he had been hit but it wasn't too bad. Upon turning around, he found a sight he had hoped to have left in Iraq - a team member lying in a pool of their own blood. "Jules!" Even though it caused him great pain, he rushed to her side. "Oh, Jules."_

_Frantically, hr attempted to stop the bleeding. It wasn't working! Then he remembered his radio. "Officer down, officer down! I repeat, officer down! Immediate medical attention needed!" he shouted into it._

_"C'mon Jules, don't do this to me." Sam pressed his hands tightly against her chest, something he felt she would probably karate chop him for if she had been totally aware of what he was doing._

_"Sorry, Sam." Jules whispered._

_"You're going to be fine. Help is on the way." He hoped anyway. He hadn't heard any more shots so the team members on the ground were probably all was quiet, too quiet. "Say something, Jules."_

_"Should've been nicer to you."_

_"No, no, no, you're plenty nice to me." He wondered where the paramedics were as he tried to keep her talking. As long as she was talking, he felt reassured she'd be okay. "You're going to be fine, and when this is all over, I'm taking you out to dinner. Where do you want to go?"_

_"Don't date team members." Jules' eyes grew big as saucers looking at the front of his bloody shirt. "Is that mine?"_

_"Sam glanced down at himself."Well, yeah. But it's all right, I never liked it anyway."_

_"Looks good though."_

_He almost laughed. Here she was, nearly bleeding to death on the top of a building roof, and Jules was flirting with him!"_

Sam grinned a little at the memory then it faded. That was the last he had seen of Jules and he had no idea what had happened since.

"Knock, knock." Parker said, coming into the room. "Actually, you don't have a door, just these very lovely pink curtains."

"Yeah, so I noticed." Sam said.

"Homey." Parker looked around the room. There wasn't much, just a table, a chair by the bed, and the bed. That was it, not even a picture on the wall. "Not even a television, eh?"

"Nope. Sarge, how is Jules?" Sam didn't want to beat around the bush and joke about the room.

Parker sighed heavily and lowered himself into the chair beside the bed.

Panic seized Sam. "Sarge, she, she is alive, isn't she?" he stammered.

"Yes, yes, she is."

"Thank God." Sam exclaimed, relieved. Then he looked at Parker. "There's more, isn't there?"

"She just came out of surgery a little while ago. It does look good so far but the doctor says the next twenty four hours will determine if anything will happen."

"So, Jules will be all right?" Sam was anxious to know.

"Looks that way. You didn't think she would actually die on you, did you?" Parker said, trying to smile but it had been a long day, he had not slept in two days, and just a little while ago he _had_ been afraid of that very thing. And not much scared Gregory Parker.

"She didn't exactly look good the last time I saw her."

"Oooh, I would not let her hear you say that, ever." Parker actually smiled then. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Sam nodded and started to speak. "We were up on the roof. I had a shot but Wordy said to stand down so I did."

"Good. Anything else?" Parker was writing it down for the paperwork now, and later the trial, if and when they caught the shooters.

"Then you came over the radio, told us to be careful. But it was too late, we didn't have time to run. Then I realized she had been hit. Why didn't her vest work? Why did it fail when Jules needed it most?"

"I don't know, Sam. I really don't know."

And that was something Gregory Parker wanted to know.

well, a record! two updates in two days! actually, i'd intended to post this yesterday with the other chapter but ran out of time. and the reason i have to write it before i type is because there is ONE computer for SEVEN people and not enough hours in the day, so i write it at nite and type when i can. for anyone who is interested, i have started a yahoo group for flashpoint .com/group/flashpointfanfiction okay, i think that link will work. if it doesn't and you're interested i can send you an invite.

read and review!! sarah


	5. Chapter 5

Jules was floating in a stream of colors. Blue, purple, pink, red, green, yellow and orange swirls rushed past her. It felt calming, which surprised her since they were moving so quickly. Suddenly the colors disappeared and were replaced with a scene she recognized. It was a hot day and she and Sam were on the rooftop. It was so hot, she could feel her clothes sticking to her, could feel her ponytail dripping with sweat down her back.

_Sam spoke to her without turning taking his eyes off the sight of his gun. "Got him." _

_"Wordy, Sam has a shot." Jules spoke into her radio._

_"Hold it." Wordy radioed back. "We don't want to shoot the guy unless we have to."_

_"Got." Jules clicked off her radio. "He says hold it."_

_Sam grunted in reply._

Suddenly the scene shifted and changed and Jules was once again floating in a stream of colors again.

Parker's voice broke into the colorful swirls. "Jules," he said, softly. Then louder, "Julianna Callaghan, you fight this, you hear me? You are not going to give up. You aren't a quitter." He sounded so far away, almost lost. It confused her but she couldn't find him in the swirls. It didn't make any sense.

The colors shifted and swirled around her again. A new scene rose out of them. It wasn't as clear as the first but Jules recognized it anyway.

_She was lying flat on her back looking up at the sky. It was hot but she felt cold. Sam was yelling. What was he saying? She strained to hear._

_"Officer down! Officer down!" Sam was yelling. "Immediate medical attention required!"_

_Officer down? Who was down? Suddenly Sam was looming over her, kneeling beside her. "Hang in there, Jules." He was pressing his hands on her chest._

_"Sorry, Sam." she wanted to say more, so much more but it hurt too much._

_"You're going to be fine. Help is on the way."_

_"Should've been nicer to you." She really did like him, she realized._

_"No, no,no, you're plenty nice to me." he took a deep breath. Jules wished she could,too, but the pressure and pain on her chest made it hurt too much. "You're going to be fine and when this is all over I'm going to take you out to dinner. Where do you want to go?"_

_"_Anywhere"_ was what she thought. "Don't date team members," was what she said. Looking at Sam, Jules realized with horror that there was blood all over the front of Sam's shirt. "Is that mine?"_

_"Well, yeah. It's all right, I never liked it anyway."_

_"Looks good though."_

_Jules shook her head. Covered in her own blood and she was flirting! She had to be insane from the blood loss._

"Hey, hey, you're moving around! I think you're finally waking up!" Parker's voice came into the memory.

"Sarge? How'd you get here?" Jules mumbled.

"Good to see you,too." Parker half laughed.

Slowly, she pulled open her eyelids and blinked against the bright harsh light of the room.

"Hey, Jules."

"Hurts."

"I know. I'll get someone to fix that for you." he reached over and pressed a grey button. "Just press this if you need a nurse and no one is here, okay?"

She blinked again and spoke slowly, softly, "Where's Sam?"

"Jeez, are the two of you on the same brain wave? That's exactly what he did when he woke up, asked for you.

"So he's okay?" Still slow and soft, she was groggy from all the medicines the doctors has pumping into her.

"Yes, he's fine, and anxious to see you. The whole team has been here all night waiting for you to wake up.

"Really? Wow." She was drifting back to sleep.

"Okay. Get some rest. One of us will be here when you wake up or need anything." Parker stood up as the nurse came in. "She woke up for about five minutes and complained of pain."

"Thanks." The nurse adjusted the IVs that hung by the side of the bed. "That should be better for her."

"I'm going to step out for a little while but I've left a list of numbers. You can call any of them at anytime and someone will come."

"Got it. Just leave it there on the nightstand." The nurse nodded and left the room.

"I'll see you later, all right, Jules?" he gave her hand a squeeze and left to update the guys.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Wordy, Ed, Spike, and Lou had been sitting in the waiting room. Most of the other cops had gone by this time so it was just the four of them and a handful of other people waiting for news about their own loved ones. It had been a long night but they couldn't go home until they had the good news they wanted about Jules. Sam was safe, out of the woods, and well on his way to a full recovery. Jules was a whole other story.

"Guys?" Parker was looming over the four men, all half asleep in the uncomfortable chairs waiting rooms are famous for. "Guys, she woke up."

At that, so did they. Questions were fired at Parker at such rapid speed, he held his hand up to stop them. "Yes, it looks like she'll be fine. She is still mostly out of it, went back to sleep, but one of you at a time can go sit with her. First, though, you need to go home. Get some rest, see your wives and children. You're no good to Jules dead on your feet, so come back later, okay?"

"Someone should go tell Sam." Wordy spoke up. "I saw him a little while ago and he was really worried."

"And I'll call her brother back." Lou said.

"Okay, why don't you two do that, and the rest of you, go home! That's an order." Parker tried to look and sound stern and in charge but in truth the night had taken a major toll on him. "Go now, okay?"

"You're going to get some rest,too, right?" Ed was the last to leave.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be going,too." It was a lie and they both knew it but Ed let it go.

Parker watched Ed leave, then lowered himself into one of the vacated chairs. Leaning his head back against the wall, he shut his eyes and sent up a prayer of thanks, then dozed off.

A/N- sorry for the really long delay between updates. First off, I lost the muse for a while then I had the holidays. But my goal is to finish by the end of the month (hopefully, no promises). Don't forget Flashpoint returns on Friday!!!!


	6. Chapter 6

A week later, Sam was released from the hospital. The first thing he did was take the elevator up two floors to see Jules. He hadn't seen her since the shootings although he had talked to her on the phone and gotten updates from the guys who had come nearly daily.

He hobbled down the hallway, unsteady on his crutches, but determined to see his friend. Sam stopped for a moment to check room numbers. "2529, 2529, where the hell is 2529? he grumbled, frustrated. He looked around at the different room numbers. 2529 was no where in sight. Sam sighed. Now he'd have to go all the way to the nurses' station to ask directions, if he could even find that!

"Sir? Do you need some help, sir?" a young nurse, pushing a cart full of dirty linens had stopped in front of Sam.

He scowled at her momentarily, not liking the idea of needing help, even though at the moment, he did. "Yeah, I'm looking for room 2529. Do you know where it is?"

"Yup, just was in there a few minutes ago. All you do is go down the hall and take a right. 2529 is the first door on your left." She grinned at him and contined down the hall, pushing her cart toward the elevators.

"Thanks." Sam took a deep breath, gathered up what was left of his strength and started down the hall. It wasn't far but it felt like a hundred times longer then it was for a guy who had spent the last week in bed.

"2529!" he gasped triumphantly a few minutes later. Leaning against the wall, he wiped his face with his shirttal, not wanting to appear sweaty and out of breath although that was exactly what he did look and feel like.

Sam raised one hand to knock on the door. There was no answer but he pushed the door open anyway, he wanted to make sure Jules really was all right. To do that he had to see her for himself.

The television was on, tuned to a comedy channel Sam immediately recognized. He'd been watching that channel a lot himself the past week. It was one of the few that didn't run constant newsclips of the "shootout in downtown Toronto" and shout out "officers down", which was why he'd watched it a lot and he suspected why Jules had chosen it,too.

Sam was disappointed to see Jules asleep although he knew she needed it. He hobbled over to the chair beside her bed and carefully slowly lowered himself into it, manuvering crutches wasn't something he was yet used to, having had them for just two days, not to mention having a bandage wrapped tightly to his upper leg didn't exactly make it easy to move, crutches or no crutches.

"How is a person supposed to sleep if nurses are in and out and someone else makes a lot of racket?" Jules said, opening her eyes.

"Hey, Jules. How you feeling?" he hoped he sounded cool and nonchalent, like visiting women in the hospital was something he did everyday.

"I was fine til a certain someone woke me up." she glared at him then laughed, which she stopped as soon as she started. "Don't make me laugh, hurts too much."

"Okay." Sam wasn't sure what to say. It wasn't like visiting one of his Army buddies in a VA hospital. He had a feeling if Jules wasn't doped up on pain meds, she wouldn't allow him within fifty yards of her in a hospital gown with her hair unbrushed and slightly tangled. "You look good."

"Are you kidding? I look like crap!"

"Well, it could be worse." he attempted to say.

"Yeah, it could." Jules was quiet. "I guess I should thank you.

"For what?"

"For saving my life. Sarge told me that if it weren't for you, I would have died out there." she sounded very serious, which frightened Sam a little. He hadn't been sure what to expect but this wasn't quite what he had in mind.

"Yeah, well, you do what you gotta do." San tried to sound flippant.

"No, Sam, really. I owe you big time."

"Okay. Dinner, on me, when you get out of here?" he suggested, slyly.

"You never give up, do you?" Jules groaned.

"Nope. Now, c'mon, what do you want to eat? Italian, Chinese, Mexican, cheeseburger, what?"

"Sam." Jules sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you?" I don't date team members."

"Oh, but you owe me one, remember? So, this is what I want in payment. Just a dinner, no strings attached or anything, all right? Just one dinner?" he pleaded with her, showing her his best puppy eyes.

"You are incorrigible, you know that?" Jules was trying hard not to smile, he could tell. "All right, all right. One dinner, nothing more."

"I knew you'd cave someday."

"Well, I can't physically kick you out the door at the moment, so no real choice."

"Funny. You like me and you know it."

"Hey, um, did you hear whether or not they'd caught the guys who shot us?" Jules changed the subject abruptly.

"Yeah. They're not even sure _who_ shot us, so no, they didn't catch them yet. The one thing they are sure of is that it was at least two of Joe Patrick's goons."

"Oh. Good to know. I'm sure someone will just go beat the identities out of him." Jules sounded sarcastic, maybe even a little sad.

"Hey, we'll get'em. You know that." Sam tried to be encouraging.

"I know. It's just frustrating to lay here for so long and and not be able to do anything."

"Jules, we'll get'em. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Jules was tired now.

"I know. Hey, I'm gonna go now and let you get some rest, okay?"

"Okay." Jules was already half asleep.

Sam pulled himself up and out of the chair with some difficulty using the crutches. He hobbled to the door, one thing on his mind. That the team absolutely had to stop Joe Patrick and his goons from hurting anyone else.

A/N- i know this chappie is a bit boring but it really opens up the next part of the story, the "retaliation" part. Besides, lot of Sam and Jules scenes here! :)


	7. Chapter 7

Sam, unable to drive in his current condition, had called a taxi instead of asking one of the guys for a ride. He had a feeling Sarge wouldn't like that very much but Sam needed time to think by himself.

First off, there was the matter of Jules' vest not working properly. He leaned back into the old leather seat of the taxi and thought about that. Vests weren't much protection against sniper bullets, true, but the shooters had only been across the alley, about fifteen or twenty feet away from himself and Jules. The vest should've done more then it had, at least he thought so. Sam made a mental note to ask whoever had gotten the vest in Forensics just what had happened.

Then of course was the biggest problem of all, Joe Patrick, who was still on the loose, as were his followers. Sam wanted to get those guys more then he'd ever wanted to get anyone else. These guys had hurt someone he cared about and Sam Braddock didn't stand for that.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey, anyone heard from Sam?" Parker stuck his head into the breakroom. "According to Jules , he was released from the hospital a couple hours ago."

"Really? He didn't say anything to me about being released today." Ed shook his head.

"Nope, haven't heard from him." Wordy agreed. "Sorry, Sarge."

"No, Jules, no one here has heard from him." Parker went back to the phone.

"He said he was headed home but I've tried his home phone and his cell phone, no answer at either." Jules told him.

"Okay, well, I'll get a patrol car to go by his house."

"Thanks, Sarge."

"Better yet, I'll go myself, all right? Maybe he's just sleeping and turned his phones off. I'm sure everything is fine with him."

"Okay. Thanks. Let me know when you find him, will you?" Jules said, sounding a bit more relieved.

"Sure, I will. Just hang in there, watch some television or something but don't worry, I'm sure he's just sleeping or forgot to turn his phone on." Parker told her.

"I hate television." Jules muttered. "All right, Sarge." she said, later.

"He's fine." he repeated and then hung up. "Guys, I'm going over to Sam's place, Jules is worried because she can't get a hold of him so I'm going to go make sure he got home all right. Ed, you're in charge til I get back. No funny business, okay?"

"Got it, boss," Ed replied, smiling.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Sam didn't live very far from the station, only about twenty minutes so it didn't take Parker long to find the place.

He lived in a small one bedroom house, a house that a realtor would probably term a "cottage" although Parker felt confident that Sam would never call it such a feminine name. Parker parked behind the motorcycle in the driveway, one of the guys had brought it over while Sam was in the hospital. He got out and headed up the brick driveway to the front door which was in need of a new coat of paint. "_Jules could probably give him some of her leftover paint._" Parker thought, remember Jules was in the midst of renovating her house. He rang the doorbell but there was no answer. He pounded the door but still no answer. He tried to peer in the windows but couldn't see in past the navy curtains. Briefly, he wondered who had hung the curtains since Sam seemed to be more like a blinds kinda guy. But there were no light on, not that he'd really expected there to be at three in the afternoon but there was no other sign of life either.

Parker went back to his car, intending to go back to the station to look up Sam's parents' number in the personnel files. "_Maybe he went to his parents, although I doubt it,"_ he thought, not really thinking that was the case.

Just then his phone rang. It shocked him a bit to see Sam's name on the caller id. "Where have you been?"

"Well, hello, to you,too. And I'm fine, how are you?" Sam's voice sounded slightly tinny over the cell phone which only served to remind Parker, once again, he needed a new cell phone.

"Sam, Jules has been calling you all afternoon. I'm at your house. No one could find you!" Parker was not very happy.

"Well, as it turns out, I didn't go home." Sam didn't sound too happy either. "I wasn't aware I had to check in with everyone before I did anything."

"That isn't what I meant and you know it. Now, please, where are you?"

"In the Forensics lab."

"Why are you at work instead at home, resting?"

"I have spent the last _week_ resting. Now, I want answers." Sam told him, determined.

"Answers to what exactly?" Parker was driving back to the station.

"Two things. One, why didn't Jules' vest work, which is why I'm in Forensics now and two, I want Joe Patrick and all his commando buddies behind bars or dead."

"The first, the lab is working on. The second, Sam, _every_ cop in Toronto is working on."

"The lab isn't working on it anymore. They know why it didn't work." Sam said, triumphant something was finally going right.

"And what exactly would that be?" Parker wanted to know as much as Sam and wondered why the lab hadn't called him first like he'd told them to. _"Probably because Sam is already there. They think I sent him."_ he thought.

"Well, it's because," Sam began.

A/N- my brother pointed out to me that kevlar vests aren't any good to sniper rifles so i had to explain that the shooters weren't really all that far away! also, don't you just hate how i've given you yet another cliffhanger?? now, i'm off to study kevlar! please read and review


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